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Arrest made in Alexis Murphy abduction, man may have ties to prior abductions

August 12, 2013

48-year-old Randy Allen Taylor of Lovingston, Virginia, was arrested yesterday and charged with the abduction of 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, investigators confirmed to reporters at a press conference today.

Alexis still has not been found, and police are still seeking tips from the public on her whereabouts. If anyone has any info on Randy Taylor or his activities on Saturday, August 3 or during the days between then and when Alexis’ car was discovered on Tuesday Aug 6, please call 434-263-7050 immediately.

Alexis’ mother spoke out at the press conference and pleaded with anyone who has any info to please call police ASAP. Today would have been Alexis’ first day back at school. Heartbreaking.

This is not the first time Randy Taylor has been a suspect in an abduction. In September 2010, a 19-year-old teenager named Samantha Clarke disappeared and authorities have yet to find her. The number one suspect in the case? Randy Taylor. You can read more about Samantha’s disappearance and Randy’s police harassment allegations HERE, courtesy of The Hook.

From the start, I had been wondering why the FBI would be involved in this case, especially so early on. I even asked my father, who is a retired police captain, what sort of factors go into determining whether to involve the FBI or not. He basically told me the main reasons are usually if a crime has crossed state lines, or if there’s some sort of internet connection (which can also fall under the “state lines” rule of thumb). In this case, it’s beginning to look like the FBI’s involvement came into play due to multiple crimes having been committed, ie: additional abductions. Rumors have been running rampant on the internet over the past 12 hours, and if some of the rumors are true, and Randy is in fact guilty of Alexis’ abduction and possibly others, we might very well have a serial killer on our hands.

At the press conference, investigators said they would not discuss any other possible abductions but did state that they are looking closely at the possibilities.

Let’s all keep in mind that Randy is, of course, innocent until proven guilty. He’s accused the police of wrongly accusing him before and the judge in that case seemed to side with him (see The Hook article I linked above). Could this be another case of the police picking him out and “harassing” him?

Randy’s first court appearance should be this week in Nelson County. This will definitely be an interesting case to follow.